^ 1.01.1Haylock, Julian. CD Notes "BUILDING, COMBINING AND RESOLVING". 438 757-2 (booklet). Wolfgang Sawallisch, Wiener Symphoniker (Philips). 1993 (英语).
^Geiringer, K.; Simpson, Robert. Johannes Brahms. Encyclopædia Britannica. [2024-12-15](英语). Brahms’s last symphony, No. 4 […] may well have been inspired by the ancient Greek tragedies of Sophocles that Brahms had been reading at the time.
^Osborne, Richard. CD Notes "A personal story: the symphonies of Brahms" (booklet). Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker. Warner/EMI: 6. 2009 (英语). Brahms, who at the time of composition was poring over a new translation of the tragedies of Sophocles, later described the symphony as 'four entr'actes to be performed between the acts of the tragedy of human life.
^ 7.07.17.2CD Notes "MODEST and UNMODEST BEETHOVEN REVERENCES" (booklet). Yevgeny MRAVINSKY, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Praga Digitals: 3 (英语).
^Thomason, Geoffrey. Liner Notes. 32138 (booklet). Tove Lønskov, Rodolfo Llambias (Klampenborg: SteepleChase). 1992: 3 (英语). evidence exists elsewhere to suggest that the arrangement was made from the full score, as happened with the first symphony, and not the other way around, as with the second.